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Urgent Action Needed to End Our Love Affair with Cars, Report Finds

posted by martyb on Tuesday April 30 2019, @01:34AM   Printer-friendly
from the bipedal-locomotion dept.

Phoenix666 writes:

Phys.org:

The authors are calling on national and local governments to set targets for the proportion of trips made on foot, by bicycle and by public transport, including national targets of:

  • Doubling the proportion of trips walked to 25 per cent by 2050.
  • Doubling the proportion of cycling trips in each of the next decades, with the ultimate goal of 15 per cent of all trips being on bicycles by 2050.
  • Increasing the proportion of all trips by public transport to 15 per cent by 2050.

The report's authors further recommend:

  • The government develop a national promotion and education campaign to persuade people to walk or cycle to schools and work-places
  • That investment is made in liveable cities and creating urban environments designed for people, rather than cars
  • That new regulations are introduced to make walking and cycling safer

The report prominently cites health concerns as a key reason to not drive, because people need to exercise more. Is it a tacit acknowledgement of electric vehicles' (EVs) imminent takeover of global car fleets?

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  • (Score: 1) by r_a_trip on Tuesday April 30 2019, @01:41PM (1 child)

    by r_a_trip (5276) on Tuesday April 30 2019, @01:41PM (#836671)

    ***Perception of motorbikers isn't very good***

    The understatement of the year. I am always in awe and wonder when I see a well behaved motor cyclist in traffic. Most of them seem to be hardwired for speeding, macho behaviour and recklessly weaving in and out of lanes. Most of the aforementioned, so I can catch up to them later when traffic lights in the next town put their "rally" to a stop.

  • (Score: 2) by aim on Tuesday April 30 2019, @02:15PM

    by aim (6322) on Tuesday April 30 2019, @02:15PM (#836687)

    I am always in awe and wonder when I see a well behaved motor cyclist in traffic. Most of them seem to be hardwired for speeding, macho behaviour and recklessly weaving in and out of lanes.

    Frankly, the reckless ones are those you'll notice... the well-behaved, not so much. It's them I notice too while biking... and then think, they'll sort themselves out of the gene pool, or at least off the bike, quickly.

    I'll have to say though that around here at least, it's pretty tough getting the permit for the motorbike - they tend to weed out the "lesser drivers" pretty thoroughly, as they want to lower the number of casualties. Be too aggressive, you don't pass. Be too slow / don't handle your bike well enough, and you won't pass either.

    As for "macho behavior" - us bikers also need to somewhat make our presence known, as we'll otherwise get flattened by those not minding their surroundings properly. I've often enough "not been seen" (yeah, sure!) and had to take evasive action.